Excellence challenges me to do things right. It challenges me to grow.

Perfectionism challenges me to not do anything unless it is perfect according to my perceived standards. And often my standards are higher than I can reasonably fulfill.

Excellence is caring enough to put forth an effort to do my best. “Best” is always defined by time, resources, preparation, opportunity, and circumstances.

Perfectionism is unreasonable in its demands.

It keeps me from launching new things

It keeps me from making my work public

It keeps me from sharing the great things in my heart with others

It keeps me from feeling good about things that are good

It dishonors the gifts God has given me

Pursuing excellence takes us to the next level. Pursuing perfection holds us back.

Perfectionism keeps me from doing the things I am passionate about. I’ve not made a blog entry for over a month. When I started this blog I committed to myself that I would blog no less than once a week no matter what, within reason. So, why have I missed so many weeks? Perfectionism. I have plenty to say, just not the perfect thing. I’ve written lots of drafts, but they were too… imperfect. I’ve written books that are trapped up in my hard drive because… well, they aren’t perfect.

Newsflash: We are not perfect. But you know what, perfection isn’t the attribute that draws people to us, or makes us effective. Who we are, imperfections and all, and how we live and move forward in spite of those imperfections is what makes us valuable.

I need to get over myself. I’ve been told that more than a few times in my life. I need to get over myself, not because I think I’m all that, but because I’m my own worst critic. I am too hard on myself… See, I did it again!

I am going to use this blog to help me get over my penchant for perfection. I’m going to post once a week, even if it stinks. In fact, I am not going to over-tweak this post, I’m going to just post it. I have a feeling it won’t smell as bad as I think it might because usually the things I create that people connect with are the things I didn’t think were my best work… And those things I thought were my sapphires of crowning achievement were barely noticed by anyone.

So, let’s do this.

Get over yourself, you are not perfect, everyone already knows you aren’t. Do not despise the gifts you have today, who you are, what you have to offer… pursue excellence, but forget about perfection.

David and Donna Delp are the founders of Calibrate360 and host the weekly Calibrate Life Podcast. For more info about them visit our About Us page. To learn about their mission, visit our Mission Africa page.